What are the principal bases, let us say, for the Catholic unions? The principal basis for these unions is contained in the formula: "Love one another." If, in general, this is not a bad principle, in the class struggle it plays a definite role, weakening the fighting spirit of the workers. In the education which is being received by the members of the Catholic unions, religion is dominant.
The confessional unions are trying to connect politics and economics with religion and to inject into the demands of the workers a somewhat religious Catholic or Protestant outlook. The harmfulness of these organizations is very clear, but why are there certain kinds of workers who join them? This is, first of all, because the working class is not all of one kind, is not homogeneous. It is not sufficiently united. It is in different stages of development: It is partly connected to the petty bourgeoisie, partly with the peasantry and the individual producers. The culture of the present society—the universities, schools, literature—all influences the working class which is a participant in this society. The children of the workers are studying in bourgeois schools, going through history with certain text-books.
Thus, the varied and heterogeneous composition of the proletariat, the existence of different layers within this class which is termed the working class—all this shows itself in the form of different ideological groupings. By this is explained the existence, alongside the Communists of the reformist and Catholic labor organizations.
The practical work of these Catholic unions does not differ much from the work of the reformists. The difference, perhaps, is that the former talk about God, while the latter talk about the League of Nations—that is, that from somewhere outside the unions, some aid should come to the workers.
In fact the tactics of the reformist and the Catholic unions are the same, and not as an accident do we find in Germany a bloc between the reformist and Catholic unions, a bloc not only on the question of wages, but also a political one. Both these organizations—Catholic and reformists—always find common ground, because the fundamental principle of both is the same—it is class collaboration and merciless struggle against Communism.
The Influence of Bourgeois Ideology
Such anti-proletarian activity by proletarian organizations we see in many countries. In the United States, the American Federation of Labor is a reactionary organization whose slogans are anti-Communism and anti-Socialism. The officials of the American Federation of Labor call themselves "independents," but in reality they are completely dependent on the bourgeois political parties. It is known that in America,
